Military Operations continue in Awarta, 7 Arrested Across West Bank

For the fourth consecutive day, the Israeli military continued its operation targeting the northern West Bank village of Awarta, near Nablus, on Wednesday.

Today Israeli troops continued to search residents’ homes, then arrested a group of young men and women and took them to a nearby military base taking DNA samples and fingerprints.

In what was described a very strange move by the army, villagers told local news agencies that in the early hours, troops were seen digging up graves in the village cemetery. So far the Israeli army remains detaining 71 residents from Awarta, among them a sixteen-year old Julia Awad. The army says the operation is to find those responsible for the killing of a settler family in the Itamar settlement last month. The settlement lies directly above Awarta village.

In an earlier interview the head of the village council, Khalis Awad, told PNN that his village is under constant military operations since unknown assailants killed a father, mother and three children in the settlement of Itamar.

Settlers and the army accused the villagers of Awarta of the killing, but no evidence has yet been provided.

In related news: on Wednesday seven Palestinian men were arrested during morning invasions targeting a number of West Bank communities. According to local sources, the seven arrested were from the southern WB village of Beit Omar, near Hebron, and from the Old City of Hebron itself. Other invasions were reported in Ramallah and Jenin.